The US Poet Laureate

The West Wing takes up a lot of my time these days. I watch, on average, five episodes per week. It entertains me. Diverts. Amuses. I find the characters intelligent, funny, and extremely likeable and that’s why I watch it.

Unfortunately (or not, however you look at it), the success of most of shows’ stories rely on several over-arching, very dangerous, very American, fallacies. Here is the deeply flawed logic as I see it:

i) People who hold a degree from ivy league universities are intelligent.
ii) People who work in the White House went to ivy league universities.
iii) People in the White House are intelligent.

Until last night, I was able to overlook this problem in order to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the show. Last night I watched an episode called The US Poet Laureate (S3E16) in which an American poet (Laura Dern) lobbies the president to agree to an international land-mine treaty. It wasn’t the landmines that concerned me. Like most issues the show deals with, it was washed over in an effort to fit between commercial breaks. I was annoyed by the way Sorkin used this story to preach about the role of the artist in society. When the poet voices valid objections to the use of land-mines, Toby responds by saying (I paraphrase), “Look, this isn’t kid’s stuff! No one cares what you think. You’re a poet.” Later in the episode, Dern’s character has a break-down and concedes to Toby. The artist says:

“You think that I think that an artist’s job is to speak the truth. An artist’s job is to captivate you for however long as we’ve asked for your attention. If we stumble into truth, we got lucky, and I don’t get to decide what truth is. . . . I write poetry, Toby. That’s how I enter the world.”

Let see that again: An artist’s job is to captivate you for however long as we’ve asked for your attention. That’s the response I’d expect from Ricky Martin, not a Nobel Prize winning poet. I may not know what the truth is, but I do know there’s more of it in a single page of Madame Bovary than all the State of the Union addresses combined.

Contrary to what Sorkin is implying, White House Communication Directors do not have a monopoly on the truth. In fact, their job has always been to distort, if not rape, the truth at every given opportunity. Would Sorkin have Americans (artists or otherwise) leave decisions of global importance to ivy league-educated bureaucrats in the White House? In any functional democracy, speaking the truth is the responsibility not only of policitians - but equally of poets and plumbers.

In Orwell’s essay, “Politics and the English Language,” he writes, “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” Poets are not out of bounds to challenge the White House on serious issues. But teleplay writers are way out of bounds to suggest they shouldn’t.

Comments (28 comments)

that’s one very good reason why i can’t stand that show and have only watched one or two episodes. i live in NYC. i see enough BS everyday, so do i have to see more when i watch some TV? i know that many people (my fiance included) will tell me that all TV is BS, but i disagree. when your supply of “west wing” runs out try watching “law & order” (my personal favorite). now that’s a show that’ll keep you thinking about the US judicial system! (or “six feet under” my personal fave)

gleek / May 1st, 2004, 12:55 am / #

I think you should send this review to Mr. Sorkin too.

xox / May 6th, 2004, 2:51 am / #

thanks, mom. i’m glad someone is taking my outrage seriously.

i’m in it for the long haul. i’ll quit when i’m finished with season four. nearly there.

as for law & order, i was subjected to non-stop L&O action by some former room-mates. i’m afraid i’ve had my fill.

paperfingers / May 7th, 2004, 1:32 am / #

Hello.

I’ve been looking around and came across your site by accident. The information you link to from your home page is quite informative so thanks for taking the time to post it.

Joe
trim spa

trim spa / October 29th, 2004, 5:57 am / #

Hello there,

Iwas browsing the web and found this blog. Some interesting quotes. Keep them coming!

Alice
instant loan

instant loan / November 3rd, 2004, 5:43 am / #

Hi, You should check out Soma

Soma / November 3rd, 2004, 8:44 pm / #

Guten Tag - Hier ist ein sehr schooner Site. Cheap Staples

Danke!
Bob Staple

Bob Staple / November 17th, 2004, 9:25 pm / #

He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument. celebrex buy celebrex If there be no great love in the beginning, yet heaven may decrease it upon better acquaintance, when we are married and have more occasion to know one another: I hope, upon familiarity will grow more contempt.

celebrex / November 21st, 2004, 11:39 pm / #

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments: love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds. ativan buy ativan Every man has his fault, and honesty is his.

ativan / November 21st, 2004, 11:40 pm / #

He that is robb’d, not wanting what is stolen,Let him not know ‘t, and he’s not robb’d at all. amoxil buy amoxil There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

amoxil / November 21st, 2004, 11:40 pm / #

In time we hate that which we often fear. propecia buy propecia Merrily, merrily shall I live now, Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

propecia / November 22nd, 2004, 4:04 pm / #

Have more than thou showest; Speak less than thou knowest. proscar buy proscar No legacy is so rich as honesty.

proscar / November 22nd, 2004, 4:09 pm / #

While thou livest keep a good tongue in thy head. norvasc buy norvasc True hope is swift, and flies with swallow’s wings; Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.

norvasc / November 22nd, 2004, 4:14 pm / #

So full of artless jealousy is guilt,It spills itself in fearing to be spilt. mevacor buy mevacor He draweth out the thread of his verbosity finer than the staple of his argument.

mevacor / November 22nd, 2004, 4:14 pm / #

God bless thee; and put meekness in thy mind, love, charity, obedience, and true duty! glucophage buy glucophage Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie.

glucophage / November 22nd, 2004, 4:14 pm / #

It is a familiar beast to man, and signifies love. claritin buy claritin Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like a toad, though ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in its head.

claritin / November 22nd, 2004, 4:24 pm / #

Frailty, thy name is woman! clomid buy clomid Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come.

clomid / November 22nd, 2004, 4:24 pm / #

Costly thy habit [dress] as thy purse can buy; But not expressed in fancy - rich, not gaudy. For the apparel oft proclaims the man. zocor buy zocor There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

zocor / November 22nd, 2004, 4:47 pm / #

He hath eaten me out of house and home. zanaflex buy zanaflex He who has injured thee was either stronger or weaker than thee. If weaker, spare him; if stronger, spare thyself.

zanaflex / November 22nd, 2004, 4:50 pm / #

Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end. zovirax buy zovirax Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground.

zovirax / November 22nd, 2004, 4:50 pm / #

Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once. wellbutrin buy wellbutrin Nothing will come of nothing.

wellbutrin / November 22nd, 2004, 4:50 pm / #

If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction. vasotec buy vasotec Love all, trust a few. Do wrong to none.

vasotec / November 22nd, 2004, 4:58 pm / #

The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. ‘T is mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway, It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s, When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That in the course of justice none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. soma buy soma Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.

soma / November 22nd, 2004, 4:58 pm / #

The end crowns all, And that old common arbitrator, Time, Will one day end it. zantac buy zantac And thus I clothe my naked villainy With old odd ends, stol’n forth of holy writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

zantac / November 22nd, 2004, 4:59 pm / #

You can also check out some information about phentermine phentermine http://www.ottawavalleyag.org/ - Tons of interesdting stuff!!!

phentermine / November 26th, 2004, 9:16 am / #